January 2004 Archives

The Bannerghata Road stretch till IIM is getting worse day by day. Thanks to the flyover being built at the BTM junction, half the road has disappeared due to the heavy traffic. The other half is full of potholes and driving has become a duanting task. During the day, its heavy traffic that takes almost fifteen minutes to cover a distance of less than one KM. In the night its the speeding Quallis and Sumo (from Accenture / HSBC ?) which sends a chill down your spine. Add to that, the road is being dug on one side.

There was a film shoot last week in one of the local Manhattan's. There was a huge crowd to watch the shoot and make-shift candy / ice-cream parlours popped up creating utter confusion. Yesterday there was a marriage at the Kalyani Kalyana Mandapa and the entire road was jammed.

Somebody told, "This road is being converted into a four lane highway". Prompty my friend responded "By that time, your son will be working here, then!". God only knows when will this mess come to an end. *Sigh*

Very Very Special (VVS) Laxman is on a rock and roll at this moment. Three centuries in the VB Series to add to his two in the Border - Gavaskar test series has showed his excellent form in Australia. Was in office the whole of Friday night and thought will go to sleep after India were 4/3. But the way, Dravid and Laxman played kept me on. The way these guys were playing, seemed that there was no chance they will get out, till Dravid mis-timed that hit to Blignaut. Walked in Gavaskar and he showed great temperament rotating the strike and got his maiden half century. Laxman stayed till the end to get his third century. Couldn't stay awake and slept at the end of the Indian innings.

Its amazing how times change. Laxman was dropped out of the one day squad and was considered a test only player. He was in the same state as Rahul Dravid a few years back. I guess Laxman will become a permanent fixture of the one day squad. May be he needs to add a few big shots to his kitty now. What is going to happen when Kaif comes back?

Rohan Gavaskar is doing good at this moment but I am worried about the number of faces watching him, thanks to Sunny. He is doing good and everyone is praising him but a few bad innings and the pressure is going to be on him (and on Sunny too....). He is going to bat at number 6 or 7 and will have to play a role similar to what Robin Singh used to do. I wish he emulates Michael Bevan.

Sometime, I wonder how indifferent I become on weekends. I have spent more than 20 hours of the past two days sleeping. I know weekends are for unwinding, but I guess this is too much. How much do you normally sleep on weekends?

Only good thing I did was to do some cleanup and in the process found my video library membership. Promptly went to the video shop and got Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. (that was the CD lying prominently in the front). Nice movie and well enacted by Rahul Bose and Konkona Sen. Though initial the Tamil accent of Meenakshi sounds a bit odd, she has done a nice job. Shot in nice location with some captivating music by Zakir Hussain, its a nice watch. And blame me for missing this movie so long.

Have been facing funny issues with Yahoo! Messenger since evening. When i try to login, it says "You have been disconnected as you have logged in from another machine". I see that Y! has not connected and i am offline. But i am able to receive messages from my friends.

A great cricketing career comes to an end. I remember Steve Waugh as a part of the team which had the likes of David Boon, my favourite cricketer during school, Geoff Marsh, Dean Jones, Allan Border, et al. I was in school then. From then to now, he has transformed to captain of the number one cricket team with a lot of records.

What a day it was for him. Standing ovation when he came in to bat, Every run being cheered, the fifty and then when he got out! The whole stadium gave him another standing ovation and cheered him up. Tendulkar after taking the catch came running to congratulate Steve.

Sachin said "I looked up to Steve Waugh and as a young man learnt a lot from him". Dravid said "I am delighted to play my part in the memorable test". Earlier Laxman dedicated his century to Steve. Ganguly congratulating Steve Waugh after accepting the trophy. Then came the moment. Steve Waugh's speech after accepting the token gift. I was thinking if he was allowed to speak a few more works, he would have cried. He finished saying "I want to get back to the dressing room and drink a few beers". The Australians then carried Waugh through a lap of honour.

How many of us were expecting a similar result when India went to Australia last month. I was thinking that Australia will beat India 2-0 (may be an innings defeat as well). Indians have played remarkable cricket in this series and have given Australia enough nightmares with the 1-1 result and retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

It was a bit weird that Rahul Dravid was awarded of the Man of the Series instead of Ricky Ponting. Ricky Ponting had scored above 700 runs with back to back double centuries and I though he deserved the Man of the Series. Kumble was forgotten and Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the Man of the Match.

Every batsmen contributed though bowling was average. The bowling department needs a lot of improvement and consistency. Also, Parthiv Patel needs to learn a lot. Instead of over-appealing, he might well concentrate on his wicket keeping. He missed a few crucial chances which could have turned the match.

We have also moved up to the fifth place in the test rankings. Now let us hope Indians do well in the VB Series as well.